I developed a mad crush on Clare the first time I heard their song "Pluto," a song that even my wife loves despite her general dismissal of what she's long since dubbed "Stewart's wispy-little-girl singers."

When we saw My Brightest Diamond, her opening act was Richard Buckner, whom I'll always adore for introducing a song by saying, "I was playing a house concert in Asheville, North Carolina...because my career has not gone the way I had planned..."